Dharun Ravi walked out of jail today, but we haven't seen the last of him yet.

This nationally scrutinized story promises to drag on, as his lawyer and prosecutors appeal the controversial sentence. It could take more than two years before the appellate court acts.

At least he won't get deported in the meantime. Ravi was born in India, but grew up here. Federal immigration authorities said this week they're not going to kick him out of the country over his webcam spying conviction.

That's a relief. So was his short jail sentence. Ravi ended up serving 20 days, and still faces three years' probation and 300 hours of community service. But had the judge followed the law's guidelines, he might have been sent to state prison for up to 10 years.

The public got message: Bullying is serious, and may be a criminal offense. Ravi did, too. He admitted to spying on his Rutgers roommate, Tyler Clementi, kissing another man, and apologized for his "thoughtless, insensitive, immature, stupid and childish choices."

We hope his time in jail is over, even though the legal saga isn't.

His notoriety lives on, too. His case is certain to invite comparisons with other bullying incidents, like the Morristown High School students recently charged with assaulting, robbing and threatening a classmate who later committed suicide.

So here's another take-away lesson: In the future, let's make sure the charges fit the crime.

It's right to remember Clementi as a victim of bullying, and to call his death a tragedy. But it was wrong to blame Ravi for the suicide. Clementi left behind a note, but authorities never released it. We can only imagine what Clementi was thinking when he jumped off the George Washington Bridge.

It was fair to charge Ravi with invasion of privacy, and tampering with witnesses and evidence. He shouldn't have spied on Clementi and tried to cover it up. But there wasn't clear evidence that he acted out of hate. Charging him with bias intimidation in an effort to lock him up for years was a political crusade.

And if our state's bias law continues to be used that way, it will be rendered meaningless.